A Mississippi civil rights lawyer says she was unlawfully arrested by Lexington police officers amid a lawsuit she filed against the department that alleges false arrests, excessive force, and intimidation.
Jill Collen Jefferson, president of JULIAN, a civil rights organization that filed a federal lawsuit last year against the Lexington Police Department on behalf of the city’s residents, was arrested on Saturday (June 10) after recording officers during a traffic stop, according to her lawyer, Michael Carr.
Carr told the Associated Press that Jefferson recorded the officers on a public street and complied with their request to produce identification. However, she was arrested on several misdemeanor charges including failure to comply, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
Jefferson’s arrest came days after Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division met with community members in Lexington about allegations of police brutality brought against the department.
The civil rights attorney remains in custody in the Holmes County Jail, according to reports. Police Chief Charles Henderson agreed to release her without bond, Carr said, but Jefferson refuses to pay the jail’s $35 processing fee for her release because she believes her arrest was unlawful.
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